Week 54

Hi! I'm really good!  It is still so hot here.  Last Sunday we saw two boats filled with Africans coming into Trapani. It's just ridiculous, I don't know where they are going, seriously! They don't stay here, well at least not many of them! They go to Palermo or Napoli most of the time! They always say that Africa has more fruits and is not as hot and it sounds like a paradise except for the wars!  Which is just too bad!  To be honest I have no idea when my next zone conference will be, we will have one this Thursday but after that I don't know!!! Transfers will be at the end of September, so right before my birthday I guess you could say! And I have no idea what has been going on but we have been working really hard without any success and so I have decided that the problem is not anything about the Lord, but the problem is with me. So I have really been trying to do a deep cleaning and just repenting of everything and trying to leave behind all of my faults and everything so that the Lord can use me more perfectly as a tool in His hands! We have just had a ward fast and today and we have already been seeing miracles with our branch, for example one guy called us today and said he gave away a copy of the Book of Mormon to his friend who might want to know some more.  Ii have seen this branch go from kind of hopeless to being involved much more in the gospel and truly wanting to help as many people as they can!  I now know with a surety the Lord does bless his people in his time and in his way! I know that the Lord gives us weaknesses to be humbled and if we humble ourselves, He will make weak things become strong!  It is so true that the things of this world can be so tempting and seem to be so cool or good when in reality the things on the inside are the things that matter most! I read a really cool scripture this morning about being clean on the inside from the teachings of Christ, it was in Matthew 23.25-28.  We shouldn't be as the Lord would say, "whited sepulchers" with beauty on the outside and  corruption on the inside, but pure on the inside and then the Lord will make us pure on the outside as well! So anyway, I love you guys and will be praying for you guys as well! I hope you have a great week!! 

Love, Anziano Goode

Italy from the International Space Station!
Credit: Astronaut Commander Scott Kelly

Week 53

Hey mom!! 

I got your email last week, it was just my fault because I tried to respond with a video because I was short on time and the file was too big and wouldn't send, so that sucked.  I totally got your email though!! So, I have been trying these past few weeks, well this past year,  to truly become Christlike! And I watched a really cool talk by Jeffery R Holland called "Tongue of Angels", it talks about (in verse 2 of James ch 3) if we are able to be perfect in word we will also be able to control our entire body and how if we do not offend anyone by our words we are perfect. It's a really good verse and probably better if you just read it, but I have learned that if we offend no man and if we watch our thoughts and our deeds and our actions, then we truly can become perfected in Christ! I am so grateful for the things I have been learning and the things that I have been able to practice and live in my life so that I can more fully accomplish my calling as a missionary to go out preaching to all nations by the Spirit.  I have come to a much greater understanding of the gospel since I have been living it than of all the time I could ever take to study it!  I'm super grateful as well for my mission president and the help he has been to this mission and to me personally!  

I am so excited to hear about Nathan starting high school and about Leah going into her senior year! I'm just super proud of my family overall! This week we had a variety of lessons. We had some in church with this man we met last week who, unfortunately, didn't come to church and says he is too busy to meet this week. Then also we were supposed to pass by the nephew of this one member who is evangelical and says that if we can prove to him that the Bible is not the only sacred scripture on the earth, he will be converted. Sounded easy enough, until we drove 25 minutes with the oldest member in our branch to go to the little village called Napola. It was quite scary because I'm almost positive our member that was driving us is blind and Italian drivers do not drive very slowly, especially when they are late for an appointment. Nonetheless we continued speeding down the pot-hole filled road, when this member swerved off the side of the rode!!! I looked at my terrified companion in the backseat while I was in the front and I asked the member if everything was okay! The sweet old man looked at me and said " Anziano, siamo dimenticati di fare la preghiera" or "we forgot to say the prayer!" Terrified and not knowing what was going on my companion was asked to say a prayer. At first he asked why, then he realized we needed the prayer much more than for safety but also for the spirit, so we sat on the side of the rode praying for safety and for the spirit, then we finally made it to this nice little city and it turns out the nephew of this member wasn't even home. So, we went back to our city and had English course that night!!  Two days ago we went to Palermo to have baptismal interviews for two people that the anziani in Palermo had been teaching, the first was this lady from Hungary who was very moved by the power of the gospel. She had felt the spirit tremendously make an impact on her life after only 2 months of knowing the church. She was following all of the commandments she was also going to get baptized with her husband! I could feel her strong testimony as she shared it with me. The next baptismal interview was this man who had followed the church for other motives. He didn't follow all of the commandments and had not put in the effort to receive true testimony, so I told him we would have to wait a couple of weeks to go ahead and have the baptism. He was crushed when I told him he couldn't be baptized yet but I promised him blessings for following the example of Jesus Christ and how if he really wanted to he could become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. This made me think of the personal preparation it takes to be a member of this church. To fully embrace the gospel you have to want it! You have to love God and love his commandments as well! I have learned that when someone needs spiritual healing they need to turn outward and when one needs physical healing they need to turn inward.  The best thing though is that "when we serve others our spirits become more substantial and our spirits become bigger and that means it becomes easier to find our selves because there is more of us to find!" D Todd Christopherson said that.

Well the search has been long and worth it! Worth every moment! I still can't say I have found myself completely, but I'd say I'm fine with being lost in the work of the Lord! 

I hope everyone has a great week!! 

Love, Anziano Goode

Week 52

Dear Dad, Thanks for the letter! It does seem that time is flying by! I cant believe that Ty is going to be returning home in just a couple of weeks! I totally remember him at our house not too long before he left talking to all of us and just making us all laugh a ton! Those are some of my best memories, the ones with you! Even the memories of just going to your neighbor at work and asking for some kind of help on wood working for my Eagle Scout!

Keep working with Nathan doing fun things! Make sure he knows you love him and want to hear about his problems with his girlfriends and with himself! He will always remember your counsel as I have! I love you so much! I hope you guys have a great week! Also, I am staying another transfer here in Tràpani, which will make 7 months here by the end!

Love, Anziano Goode

BYU basketball star, Anziano Pingree... 

Week 51

Thanks mom!! I love reading your emails! I have been so blessed this week! We had Zone Conference and I was able to have an awesome interview with President Waddoups! He is such a great guy. We have been working really hard to meet with some of our less active members and normally they all tell us not to come and visit them for various reasons.  Then this week our branch mission leader told us to contact them and so we did contact two of them and one of the sorelle (sisters) that we called told us that normally she didn't want the anziani to come over but this time when I had called her, instead of asking for her by first name I asked for Sister ____  and she said this touched her heart and wanted us to come visit her that night.  So we went by her house that night and she bore her testimony to us and said how strongly she believes in the church, it was just that some of the members in the past had had an argument with her and caused that she never wanted to come to church again, which is too bad! But we will meet with her again next week! Also there was another who said she had lost her faith in Joseph Smith and the Word of Wisdom so Friday we will go to teach her about the Book of Mormon and read it with her!   

Last night we walked for two hours to an African camp and saw a boat fillled with Africans coming over straight from Africa just into the harbor of Tràpani. They have all told me that Nigeria is not as hot as it is here in Tràpani, it's just that it's way more dangerous there, so they have to flee for safety without their children and wives most the time! Last night I met this couple who had been in Italy for 6 days from the Ivory Coast. I told them we were missionaries and they told me they didn't speak Italian or English, only French, so it turned out that I taught my first lesson to this couple in French while my companion was teaching other investigators in English, I had no idea that I could speak French until they started asking me questions and I was responding! Also, yesterday some man in a car pulled over and was searching for an address. I soon realized he was speaking Spanish and I was understanding! And, I was speaking Spanish and he was understanding! These were two really cool experiences from yesterday! Today we are going to have lunch with a member family and then help the son with some algebra! I hope I still remember that as well! hahaha! Well, I love hearing your encouraging letters each week! I love knowing I can rely on the gospel to help my life in every aspect and that we are are just doing our best to follow the perfect example of our Savior, Jesus Christ!  I am so grateful for the possibility to become Christ-like through the atonement and then to help others! At Zone Conference we talked about the basics and about growing faith, repenting, being baptized and then enduring and I am so grateful to share this basic knowledge with others!    Well, I hope you have a great week!

Love Anziano Goode

We saw a cruise ship and it was enormous, just parked on the shore of Trapani!

Half Way!

Peter has been serving in the Rome, Italy mission for one year today!  I've been looking forward to his return everyday!  This video reminded me of what a privilege it is to serve and that they do eventually return!

Enjoy!

Kirsten

Week 50

Heyyyy, how are you!!? So yesterday I met this guy who started speaking English to me and he was about 23, so I asked how he learned English he said he played for the Italy 1 league! So I asked if he knew Taylor Sander and he did!!! He said Taylor was still playing for Verona and that he can jump like crazzzyyyy! I told him that I was a libero on the number 1 high school team so he got my number and said we could play some Monday!!! Super excited!!! That's super cool that the Pujols are in Trapani, maybe we will search for them!!! Till when will they be here? Anyway, I love you, I don't have much time! 
Love, Anz Goode!